Did Americans overreact to 9/11?

posted at 2:45 pm on September 11, 2010 by Ed Morrissey

Earlier this week, Fareed Zakaria offered an odd allegation that the US overreacted to the terrorist attacks on 9/11 that killed almost 3,000 people. Zakaria claimed that al-Qaeda had basically overperformed and didn’t pose a threat necessary for the massive response it prompted. That analysis ignored several previous successful attacks abroad, including one on the USS Cole the year before 9/11, and the ongoing series of attacks around the world committed by AQ, Osama bin Laden, and their affiliates and allies.

In The New Republic, Reuel Marc Gerecht rebuts the charge of overreaction and compares the US response to European security changes, pronouncing our reaction as both prudent and cautious:

Now for the good news: I just peeked outside and we are emphatically not becoming a police state. We were not doing so under President George W. Bush and we are not doing so under President Barack Obama, who has left untouched most of his predecessor’s intelligence and counterterrorist programs and tactics (with the notable exception that Mr. Obama has been killing a lot more holy warriors with drones and attempting to capture and interrogate far fewer of them).

No doubt: Innocent Muslims find themselves caught in the net, but the truly grievous miscarriages of justice appear to have been relatively rare, especially given the scope of the threat that Al Qaeda and other jihadist organizations present. My former colleague at the American Enterprise Institute, Gary Schmitt, and I spent two years—2006 to 2008—visiting European internal-security and domestic-intelligence services. AEI has recently published a collection of essays—Safety, Liberty, and Islamist Terrorism—by Gary and European contributors that compares and contrasts American and European approaches to counterterrorism.

The conclusion: Contrary to received wisdom, Americans have been, if anything, more tentative and cautious in their approach to the jihadist threat than many of our European allies, who routinely use surveillance, administrative detention, and prosecutorial methods much more intrusive than those employed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, our primary counterterrorist organization on the home front.

I’m quite certain that Mr. Zakaria might not approve of some of the things that France and Great Britain do (I don’t), but I doubt he’d depict either country as tilting over the edge of some dark abyss. In fact, even as France and Great Britain were gearing up their counterterrorist machinery after September 11 (the French didn’t have to do too much, as their own internal security organization, the DST, became well aware of what jihadists could do when terrorists tried to derail a high-speed train in 1995), their societies were becoming more open and liberal. Today, civil liberties are no more endangered among our two closest European allies, which also boast the two most effective Western counterterrorist systems, than they were before September 11.

The 9/11 attacks showed serious flaws in our commercial air travel and visa management systems. The radical Islamists behind 9/11 studied us well and exploited those openings to convert commercial airliners into guided missiles. The resulting security changes have made flying more tedious but much safer without infringing unnecessarily on privacy rights or on the effectiveness of air travel. Unfortunately, we still have not effectively addressed our visa system, despite promises from Congress since 9/11 to overhaul it and make it more accountable. It’s been five years since the 9/11 Commission rightly flagged this as a high priority for national security, and Congresses under the direction of both parties have done little to resolve the issue.

While Gerecht rejects Zakaria’s contention that we overreacted, he does have some objections to the strategies we employed — namely, the American approach of “going big” on security apparatuses. That, to0, came as a recommendation from the 9/11 Commission, and unfortunately Congress rushed to comply with it. Those big bureaucracies turned out to have the same flaws as what preceded them, a reality that got exposed in the wake of the almost-successful Christmas Day underwear-bomb attempt on a Northwest flight from Amsterdam. This time, the radical Islamists in Yemen in the al-Qaeda branch run by Anwar al-Awlaki got more lucky than skilled in getting a previously-flagged terrorist onto a flight bound for the US when miscommunications in the very bureaucracies that were supposed to end miscommunications failed to prevent his boarding the plane. We need a serious review of the changes made in 2005 and a fresh approach to streamlining the intelligence apparatuses and reducing the bureaucracy rather than adding two more levels of bureaucrats, as Congress did.

Even with those problems, we have improved our national security posture, inflicted serious damage on AQ and its networks, and given law enforcement and national security agencies the proper tools to fight the war without turning our country into a police state. As I wrote earlier, we now understand that this is the new normal, and that may be the most important part of maintaining our security in the long run. The US has not overreacted to AQ or the threat of radical Islamist terrorism (and other kinds of terrorism as well), but has maintained its national identity in the face of a serious and insidious threat unlike anything we had ever seen.

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Having just watched Fox’s 9/11 documentary special, and relived that day, I don’t understand at all how Fareed Zakaria can even imply that anyone could conceivably “overreact” to such a horrendous attack. Zakaria clearly dwells in some warped alternative universe.

This is the standard line from bleeding heart liberals. Usually they would hector you for responding in a ‘disproportional’ way, as they do with Israel weekly. You know how that goes, -if your enemy attacks you with crude IEDs, somehow we are not allowed to use anything more sophisticated. Israel catches hell for using F-16s against volleys of missiles. Also with the police, -if a kid in East LA comes at a cop with a knife, the cop gets in trouble for using his gun.

Obviously not… And the memory is fading for far too many. Worst of all, do a video seach for 911 or Trade Towers… You know what you get? 50% truther type nonsense. 9 years later the truther crap still floats to the top. Insane.

Whatever part of our reaction which lead to paying any attention at all to a blithering idiot like Zakaria was certainly misguided, I’ll say that much.
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With the mad mullahs still in charge in Iran and the Taliban still alive and kicking, with Yemen becoming the new Afghanistan and Afghanistan threatening to become the old Afghanistan again, with sharia law metastasizing in Africa and even Europe, though, it’s fair to say we didn’t do enough.
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We succeeded in Iraq, and Indonesia has made much progress, and Afghanistan has improved too – however temporary it may have turned out. Too much “outreach” and PC crap and not enough hard hits.

It minimizes the attack by limiting it to 3000 dead. The intent of the attack was an even bigger murder total. The depravity and cruelty of the attack also illustrated a mindset that had to be destroyed. Given the chance they would use any weapon without remorse.

Kalapana, During World War II, the journalist or commentors or whatever would not be wasting their time or the Americans time by pointing out the fact that there sure are some good Germans and there are some good Japanese and on and on…….My dad fought in WWII, and no matter how horrible the circumstances were, they were supported tooth and toenail by the American people. There were no guilt trips, no whatifs. It was war, plain and simple, and they were there to fight the enemy and protect America. My dad was of German heritage, but he knew exactly who and what he was fighting for.

The resulting security changes have made flying more tedious but much safer without infringing unnecessarily on privacy rights or on the effectiveness of air travel.

Ed, I have to respectfully disagree with you here. The resulting security changes are political correctness run amok. My 80 year old father with a pacemaker and an artificial hip gets dragged aside at airports for “special searches”, while a Muslim in full Wahabi gear gets a pass, because TSA does not want to offend them. Airport security is not all that much better than it was when screening was done by private companies, like Argenbright here in Memphis. All that they have done is make the same people government employees, in a union, making 3 times their older salary, and can not be fired.

Until we as a country get serious about who and what our enemy is, and understands their motives, we will continue to be very vulnerable. 9/11 was not a big enough wake up call. I guess it is going to take even a worse horror to awake the sleeping giant.

Getting a little tired of having my comments deleted by my PC overlords for saying the same things others are saying here. HotAir is supposed to be about strong opinions and strong opinions rarely pass the PC test.

Dittos, absolutely. Whatever FDR’s other faults, he was not gutless. He waged war and his goal was unconditional surrender of the enemy as a non-negotiable demand. He gave Eisenhower, MacArthur, Nimitz, Hap Arnold, Spaatz, and LeMay the green light to do what was necessary to win in the shortest amount of time and with the least amount of American blood expended.

Today, multiculturalism and the creed of sacrificing American interests to the greater global good have corrupted the minds of millions of our fellow citizens, including many “conservatives.” Look at Ed, he is usually right about most things. But, on this issue he has a huge blind spot that that is impervious to reason.

That’s why all we need to keep hammering away at Republicans. They’ll take the House, and maybe the senate, this November. And we can depend upon them to immediately afterwards start backslidding just as soon as the NY Times writes something mean about them.

In domestic policy too many are more concerned with their reputation and little girl feelings than with a full economic melt-down. Just as in foreign policy, they would allow the greatest country in history to be destroyed by Moslem savages, lest their PC, “tolerant” conscience be sullied with doing what’s need doing to ensure our grand children retain liberty.

Maybe not the wars, but all the bulls#!t I gotta put up with at our airports is definitely an over-reaction. Good thing we got fat, illiterate TSA goons to protect us from Grannies and little kids- both seen naked on hazardous radiation devices.

Obviously not… And the memory is fading for far too many. Worst of all, do a video seach for 911 or Trade Towers… You know what you get? 50% truther type nonsense. 9 years later the truther crap still floats to the top. Insane.

RalphyBoy on September 11, 2010 at 4:45 PM

Earlier today, CNN had a great article on their website about the family of a FDNY firefighter who had finally found a picture taken of him on that morning as he rushed thru the Brooklyn-Batter Tunnel on his way to the WTC. His remains were never found.

In the comments section below the article, many of the cretins who watch CNN jumped in on how 9/11 was an inside job. It was disgusting.

The 9/11 attacks were a sophisticated, well-organized conspiracy by a group we knew too little about. Of course we overreacted in some ways. Considering the alternative was to allow another attack by an unfamiliar enemy, I don’t see how we could have responded any better.

So would Zakaria not have invaded Afghanistan or Iraq, or not sent our agents abroad to fight AQ but left it to policing actions, where other nations would not have cooperated with the FBI? And if we didn’t react to AQ, what would have been their recruiting efforts? We took on the Great Satan, inflicted massive casualties and the US ran with its tail between its legs from us!

I could cry for all the apologist BS I’ve had to swalllow today. Overreacted? Did anyone see people jumping 100 stories to their death nine years ago today?

I listened to a snippet of Ed Schulz, certified idiot, from yesterday’s show. He talked to some buffoon who equated Islam with Christianity because Jesus “said that if you don’t believe in Him, you’ll go to hell”.

A good portion of our citizenry cannot see the difference between a religion that calls for the murderous slaughter of “infidels” and one in which the Son of God declares that God alone will righteously judge.

We have problems, folks. Big ones. The visceral thrum of our discontent beats behind almost every comment today.

I recall a weekend conference shortly after 9/11, where one of the speakers described the reaction of some youngsters being herded out of a preschool in the area near the towers. One of the little ones, looking up and seeing bodies hurling from the blazing building, said, “Look, there is an angel on fire.” Chilling.

A ranking Saudi diplomat told NBC News that he has asked for political asylum in the United States, saying he fears for his life if he is forced to return to his native country.

The diplomat, Ali Ahmad Asseri, the first secretary of the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles, has informed U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials that Saudi officials have refused to renew his diplomatic passport and effectively terminated his job after discovering he was gay and was close friends with a Jewish woman.

In a recent letter that he posted on a Saudi website, Asseri angrily criticized his country’s “backwardness” as well as the role of “militant imams” in Saudi society who have “defaced the tolerance of Islam.” Perhaps most provocatively of all, he has threatened to expose what he describes as politically embarrassing information about members of the Saudi royal family living in luxury in the U.S.

The use of more than 4 tactical nukes on Afghanistan would have been an overreaction. Three would have been sufficient.

MCPO Airdale on September 11, 2010 at 5:10 PM

If there were smoking craters in the former locations of the leadership of Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and Libya in the days after 9/11, then maybe people could say we might have over-reacted.

But the world would now be a far safer place, and the future would have a much better chance of not losing hundreds of millions of lives in the inevitable Clash between Civilization and the Dark Age dismality known as Islam.

We have yet to understand the malignant ideology of the enemy enshrined in the Koran, at the level of our “leaders”, whether political, religious, educational, cultural, artistic, or journalistic.

The widespread eltitist cowardice in the face of knowing what Islam preaches is stunning and sickening and disgusting and will cost us many dead.

Over react,Hell No,the US Military,should of been fully
released with all means and ordanance at their disposal.

The Jihadys need to feel the full brunt of US array of
weapons systems and feel the horror that they inflicted
on a US,er, Western city for that mattter,tactical nukes
if neccessary!

And,with this Social Justice Police/Lawyer Political
Correctness that the Liberals have applied to The
War on Terror,plus,the ROE,Jihadys everywhere will
feel,non threatened by this Commander in Chief,for at
least 2 more years!

And that means more planning for Jihadys,and more time for Iran to bolster its Nuclear Warhead Stockpiles!!

How about for each time a terrorist attack is carried out
a random Military target is taken out in Syria or Iran,say
an Airforce base,the Iranian Navy,etc!

So far,especially with Hope/Change at the steering wheel,
its been appeasement,and excuses,for Man Made Disasters!

And unlike WWTwo,when Germans,500,000 prisoners where brou
ght over to America,to be housed,in 5*Star hotel conditions,
alot of them stayed in America,because,hell,they liked what
have seen,and wanted to make a life and family,and,persue th
e American Dream!!

In this War of Civilizations,Islamic Jihadys don`t want the
American Dream,they dream of conquest,of killing,enslavement
of a great Caliphate upon this world!!

This time around,there is NO DEALING with the enemy,they
don`t want anything from the West,accept for Westerners,
to die,period!!!!!!!!!!!

Seen this? Van Jones Driving White House Effort to Turn 9/11 Into Community Service Day

From a community organizer, what else would we expect?

slickwillie2001 on September 11, 2010 at 8:29 PM

slickwillie2001: Thanks for posting,no,I’m not surprised,
but these Progressives are so poisoned
over their bleed’n heart “ACTIVISM”,its
gonna get American’s killed!!

I wonder if Van Jones knows that Jihadys
are about a million times worse than a
fervent Japanese soldier willing to die,
for his Emperor back in WW2!:)
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The president signed into law a measure in April that designated Sept. 11 as a National Day of Service … The plan is to turn a “day of fear” that helps Republicans into a day of activism … that helps the left …Van Jones

What kind of society do we live in where some idiot like Zakaria can imagine such nonsense? He is a fool, and anyone who agrees with him is a fool, too.

mobydutch on September 11, 2010 at 5:05 PM

Exactly! Fools like Zakaria may have the mic to spout their nonsense, but I know America will NEVER FORGET. NEVER BACK DOWN. Which is why, when Janet Napolotano tried to label TERRORIST as “Man-Caused Disasters”, Americans were rightly outraged, and caused her to scrap her PC label.

I’m Indian and Fareed Zakaria can be very embarrassing at times like these.. if anything the US military has shied away from taking on the terrorist bull by its horns -and has in my view not reacted with sufficient strength and will to win this war.

Both civilian and military leadership are looking the other way when every one knows that Pakistan is the fountainhead of all jihadi terrorism – and its military-ISI-jihadi complex is alive and kicking..9 years after 9/11… and you are paying them money so that they can plot with the Taliban and kill your soldiers..

If there was any superpower other than the US – China or Russia and an incident like 9/11 happened striking at the heart of their financial and military power, the response would have not just been swift but also nuclear. Mecca would have been wiped off the world map.So would have Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Fareed Zakaria is a useful tool who once said that the US would have to learn to “live with radical Islam..” Get it ppl ? Just learn to live with Osama Bin Laden and his horde of cavemen who live in 10000 B.C.

Ted Koppel was pretty stupid as well in his op-ed.If he thinks that the US over reacted then he should answer why we still have panty bombers and Time square bombers, not to mention AfPak suicide bombers who were plotting attacks by using chemicals/perfumes bought from the store ?

So what should the correct reaction be ? Let me take a wild guess here- the correct reaction according to liberal idiots is to treat this as any other crime like it was before 9/11…how did that work out ?

Its very easy for tools like Koppel and Zakaria to play monday morning quarterbacks – they were not the ones who were responsible for dealing with 9/11 and they were not the ones who had to go thru hell to prevent other terrorist attacks like 9/11

As my 86-year old father (who served in WWII and the Korean War) remarked about this topic; that after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the U.S. went to war with Japan and Germany once the war was over people in the U.S. never felt that Japan or Germany would be a threat to them again.

Did our reaction to 9/11 alleviate those fears about our enemies? Will we ever be not afraid of al Queda?

My reply to him was that the actions of Germany and Japan were based on the governments at the time. Once those governments were toppled and the war machinery crushed there was no need to fear for future war actions.

With al Queda is their actions based politically or religously. If it is the latter, then must one defeat the religion or how does one stop people doing things based on a religous belief?

we mis-reacted. (like Sarah, I make up words as necessary).
I was thinking the same thing.

Vera on September 11, 2010 at 4:21 PM

Like Obowma’s corpsman said three times, when it is “core”-
man.
Or Obowma saying Austrian’s speak an imaginary language,
they speak German.
Or Obowma seeing dead veterans in the audience on
Veterans’ Day last year.
Or Obowma bowing to anyone. Ties to Bill Ayers, Rev
Wright, Frank Marshall Davis, Saul Alinsky…….

Here’s the question CNN and MSNBC will NOT ask…… did Bill Clinton UNDER REACT to the first WTC bombing and the Cole bombing and the other attacks that took place during his eight years in the White House, that most likely contributed to the bold attacks on 9/11. Why don’t they ask that question? Because the majority at CNN and pretty much ALL at MSNBC are liberal Democrats.

The goal of any organized terrorist attack is to goad a vastly more powerful enemy into an excessive response. And over the past nine years, the United States has blundered into the 9/11 snare with one overreaction after another…

Did our reaction to 9/11 alleviate those fears about our enemies? Will we ever be not afraid of al Queda?

My reply to him was that the actions of Germany and Japan were based on the governments at the time. Once those governments were toppled and the war machinery crushed there was no need to fear for future war actions.

With al Queda is their actions based politically or religously. If it is the latter, then must one defeat the religion or how does one stop people doing things based on a religous belief?

albill on September 12, 2010 at 6:34 AM

I submit to you that you can substitute “Islam” for “al Qaeda” and more aptly catch the feelings of the majority of Americans. Fort Hood certainly did nothing to decrease those feelings, for certainly the perpetrator and his religious advisor were not of Al Qaeda, but were of the Muslims.

The basic rule is that a Muslim should not engage in unjust battles, whether under the umbrella of Muslims or under the umbrella of others. Neither is he allowed to refrain from helping any oppressed person who is seeking his help when he is capable of helping him, whether he be from the Muslims or others. On that basis, if one group of his Ummah rebelled against the others, he is not to be with the rebels, not even to add to their show of strength, even if they are Muslims! Indeed, you saw how the Ummah stood in opposition to Saddam Hussain when he invaded his neighbor, Kuwait. And there is nothing wrong with helping an oppressed person, even if he is not one of the Muslims…

Remarkably similar to the Catholic philosophy of Just Warfare. But the rest of the article gives me pause.

The goal of any organized terrorist attack is to goad a vastly more powerful enemy into an excessive response. And over the past nine years, the United States has blundered into the 9/11 snare with one overreaction after another…
Terp Mole on September 12, 2010 at 12:18 PM

No, and we’re not finished overreacting. We should keep overreacting until they get the message that it is not God’s will that we give in to people who ambush the innocent and murder the defenseless. They must banish the idea of a new Caliphate and making us all dhimmi under their “benevolent” rule.

I’ve been rewatching “The Lord of the Rings” and the great speeches about standing up against the powers of darkness always ring in my soul. “A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of woes and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!”

To win this fight, we need more than military might. We need recommittment to the virtues of self-reliance, family, honor and endurance. Remembering the dead is only worthwhile if it causes us to renew our resolve to honor them in our lives. Otherwise, we’re a moribund, self-pitying bunch of whiners, living in the past.

What good is liberty if we only use it to gratify our appetites and pride? What is it our enemies want? 72 virgins. Palaces and more mosques converted from Christian cathedrals and Jewish temples. Slaves.

If all we live to waste our lives on coveting things that give pleasure, but no lasting happiness; on ease and selfishness, while others suffer, we’re little better than those miserable souls who destroyed themselves to bring down the WTC towers and kill everyone in them. The world will remember us as it does the Romans and Greeks in their decline, while some new empire feasts on our ruins.